Johnson & Johnson MedTech has secured an FDA clearance for new artificial intelligence-powered guidance systems to support its Monarch bronchoscopy robot.
Dubbed Monarch Quest, the Nvidia-backed AI program can interface with GE HealthCare’s OEC 3D C-arm imaging system—adding the option for live cone-beam CT navigation during lung cancer biopsies and other minimally invasive procedures.
The Monarch robot, first greenlit in 2018, also employs electromagnetic guidance and pre-operative CT scans to plot the course of its video-equipped, articulated bronchoscope, as it snakes through a patient’s airways to reach suspicious nodules in the periphery of the lungs.
Operated by a video game-like controller, the company said the addition of real-time imaging guidance could help improve targeting accuracy and sample collection.
At the same time, according to J&J MedTech, Monarch Quest will also serve as a home for future AI software releases aimed at bronchoscopy—while the larger Monarch system continues to link with the company’s Polyphonic digital surgery platform.
Launched last year, Polyphonic employs features similar to many social networks, allowing clinicians to follow patients as they progress through pre-op tasks, observe remotely as they undergo the procedure, and ultimately track their recovery through discharge by connecting with electronic health records.
Following J&J’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Monarch’s original developer, Auris Health, the flexible robot received a urology clearance from the FDA in 2022 for use in kidney stone removals.